President Aliyev: Azerbaijan has very close ties with Islamic countries [UPDATE]

President Ilham Aliyev made the remark as he received ambassadors and heads of diplomatic missions of Muslim countries to Azerbaijan on the occasion of the holy month of Ramadan on June 13.

This year was declared the "Year of Islamic Solidarity" in Azerbaijan, said the president, noting that during the year, many events were held in the country.

“The announcement of this year "The Year of Islamic Solidarity" reflects our policy and demonstrates our intention. I am absolutely sure that we Muslim countries must solve the problems that exist between us peacefully and strengthen solidarity,” he said.

This year, the 4th Islamic Solidarity Games was held in Azerbaijan.

“The Islamic Solidarity Games is not just sports competitions. We wanted these Games to unite the Islamic world. Being in Baku, the athletes and guests lived as one family, and I am sure that on these days the Islamic solidarity reached the highest peak. We must try to maintain this solidarity on high level. I am sure that it will be so,” said the head of state.

President Aliyev hailed that Azerbaijan has very close ties with the countries of the Islamic world.

“We actively cooperate in a bilateral format and in the international arena and also constantly support each other. In particular, our cooperation with the countries represented by you in the UN and other international organizations is very successful,” he said.

Azerbaijan is an active member of the Organization of Islamic Cooperation (OIC), according to the President, who said that the country held many representative events through the organization. He recalled support of the organization and its members to Azerbaijan at the Summit of the OIC in Turkey last year.

“Azerbaijan, in turn, supports Muslim countries in all international organizations. At last year's Summit, very important steps were taken including a decision on the Armenian-Azerbaijani, Nagorno-Karabakh conflict. The OIC has adopted many documents, resolutions, which support the fair position of Azerbaijan in connection with the conflict,” the president emphasized.

Nagorno-Karabakh and seven adjacent regions of Azerbaijan are under the control of the Armenian military and separatists since a war between Armenia and Azerbaijan ended in 1994. Negotiations lasting for over 20 years have brought little progress in resolving the conflict, though a fragile truce has been in place.

Talking about the Contact Group created last year in connection with the Armenian aggression, Ilham Aliyev appreciated this support.

President Aliyev went on to stress that for many years Armenia has been keeping under occupation some of the Azerbaijani lands, blatantly violating all international norms, ignoring the four resolutions of the UN Security Council, destroying all historical and religious monuments in the occupied territories.He said there are many documents and video materials confirming these vandalisms.

“We demonstrate the realities connected with the conflict in all international organizations, we bring them to the attention of the world community. Of course, we also bring this to the public of Muslim countries, so that our brothers living in these countries could see atrocities that Armenians committed in the occupied lands,” he said.

This barbarism is committed not only against Azerbaijan, but the entire Muslim world, stressed the head of state.

“Armenians destroyed Shusha mosques, Agdam mosques, as well as mosques in other our cities that are under occupation. This is a crime against the entire Muslim world. We want all Muslims of the world to know this,” he said.